Today it happened

A few weeks ago this happened.

And I've since been anticipating its coming. Today it did.

The school homesickness.

I love school. 

The past few days I have been still pretending to be a college student. It's all been very fun. This mostly means I have gone to the first day of classes with Luke for the first two days, and done other normal college life activities like devo and yoga and hanging out in the library. In that sense I haven't missed out too much on the social part of it.

But today I was walking through the tutoring center when finally it hit me.

Students were teaching each other different aspects of all different topics and I had to laugh at myself because I realized I really missed homework. And classes. And even though I'm excited for my future and I know there are good things to come, a part of me wished I was a freshman starting it all over again. College was such a ride. It is the one time in my life when I never wanted to be doing anything else other than what I was doing. 

But! This post is going to be dedicated to some fun things that happened in my final semester at BYU-I. In lovely picture form.

#1. Having auto class with Daylyn. We were both so excited for this class. It would have ended up being a great disappointment of a class except we were in it together which meant a guaranteed hour of giggling with Daylyn. And taking sneaky pictures of her in class. She took sneaky pictures of my occasional naps in class.

#2. This awesome group I worked with to try to earn $200 dollars of grant money for a Non-profit organization. They became dear friends, and it was something that started out as a school assignment, but has ended up being one of the rich experiences of my education. We won the grant money and this picture is us giving Anne of The Haven (a very cool homeless shelter in IF) the check. It was a great day. 

#3. My cutie roommates. I left Royal Crest and my best friends to move in with 4 girls I had only met once, because it felt right. It was a wonderful decision. These girls had huge hearts and they taught me a lot. Also I will miss the wonderful tininess of Amber. Here we are comparing hand sizes.

#4. Adventures with Daylyn. It's amazing that in only a year she has become one of my best friends, but some people are just that way. This semester we didn't get to room together so we made sure to have some adventures together including this cross country day in Yellowstone. 

#5. And I don't have much to say about this picture except that it just makes me happy. Graduation day was a really good day full of friends and family. BYU-I I love you!

A fox of Halloween past

The closer I get to graduation, the more I have started thinking about the choices I've made in college that have been life changing. Moving out last January to live with these girls was one of those. I don't live with them any longer, but they are still some of my best friends. So last Friday, when many of my friends had a party at my family ranch, it went down as my favorite Halloween in a long time. There was also the surprise of about 30-40 more people there than expected. The night consisted of a giant pot of taco soup, Daylyn repainting her missing tooth about five times, one weird weird game of Dare, a man dressed as a tooth fairy, two attempts by my cousins of cutting the power out, one VERY broken leg, a game of murder in the dark that didn't work very well (60 people is way too many), and the telling of not-very-scary scary stories.

Ope, I just threw this picture of our cute Jack-o-lantern cheese sandwiches I made with the cute Lake babies because... aren't they cute?

Then I got punched in the face... and other fun events

It's faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllll.

One of the best times of the year! Definitely in my top four favorite seasons. Actually one of my top three, because winter can easily be booted down to #4.

This was a perfect weekend. One of those kind you never want to end. Homework was light, I only had to work a minimal amount and the weather was incredible! So on Saturday Amber, my cute roommate, and I went to Jackson Hole. Just the two of us. Packed a little lunch, and went on this beautiful little pathway that winds through the Jackson neighborhoods. A romantic little date together.

Friday slammed into me with a, "Get me outdoors! Right now!" mentality. So Luke took me and his roommates fishing. This resulted in no caught fish, but in accidentally loosing the top half of Luke's fishing pole in the river, which could only be retrieved by him later stripping down and taking a very, very cold little naked swim. Meanwhile, I enjoyed warming up the car far away from the river.  Henry's fork was beautiful, and was just right for helping my outdoor craving.

And as a final highlight of the weekend: I can now cross off the bucket list item of being full on punched in the face! I'm not sure why this has been on that list. But it sat close to the bucket list item of slapping someone across the face. (Most of my other items are much less violently inclined.) 

We were playing water basketball and it got pretty aggressive. 

Examples: at one point I heard this kind of ripping sound and felt something underneath my fingernails. Then I realized with horror that it was this boy's skin and I had ripped two long claw marks down his back! Fortunately, he thought the gouge marks were really cool for some reason...

He later accidentally got his revenge by winding up to stop the ball, but instead of making contact with the ball, his fist found my eyeball socket. There was a loud bam! of bone hitting bone that exploded in my head. It was a teeth rattling hit. As in my teeth actually rattled. It was strange. And to be honest, I'm very surprised/a bit disappointed that no black eye appeared. This below is all I have to show for it. Three cheers for friendly aggression!

The fright of the future

I've always been a planner.
It runs in my blood on both sides. We're the "planning every detail" family.

That's why these last semesters of college - though by far my favorite - have been the most stressful. The giant looming future is not getting any clearer the closer it comes.

It doesn't much matter when you first start college if you don't exactly know what you want to do as a career. Once you pass the hurdle of choosing a major it seems like smooth sailing. Along the way your friends find a passion and their niche in the field of study. They network. They get their internships. They decide they could do that for the rest of their lives.

For me, I've become less and less certain. So for my plan ahead personality, I've tried to ignore what's coming. I dread being asked what I want to do when I graduate, because not only do I not have I job (I'm not unique to most college students nearing graduation)... I don't even have a dream job in mind.

The honest answer is that if I could do whatever I wanted, I would do college all over again. I love college. In this stage of nearing graduation yet still living the college dream, my planning mind is trying to take a break and ignore the fact that in a year, even in six months I won't be here. I will no longer be a student, living with these girls, being by my family or being with the great friends that I have made the past six months.

Even though I know the future will work out and it will be great, for now I am trying to soak in the loveliness that is college life. These pictures are pieces of the awesome that is happening now.

So there are these girls...

This post has been in the works for about a month and a half now, just hanging out in my drafts folder, because I don't really know how to do justice to how CRAZY. AWESOME. my roommates are.

January was the most healing time yet. In fact, it was the most fun January I have had in a long time.

Usually I feel like it kind of drags on, but this is one of those few times in life when I never want days to end, because that means it draws closer to the end of the semester and some of these girls leaving. They are just that great.

See? Here we are taking awkward family photos...

Remember how last semester I didn't really have too many friends? I felt like I should move out, but really had no one to move out with. My neighbor Claudia said her niece Taryn was a returned missionary and really nice and maybe I would like to live with her. I met Taryn and Kelli for two minutes one Sunday and this was close to the conversation we had:
Me: Oh! You're Taryn? Hey, do you have room in your apartment next semester. I need friends and I heard you guys are great. (This is almost pretty much word for word. I'm so eloquent...)
Taryn: Sure... We aren't very exciting but you can live with us if you want.
Me: Awesome. Where are you from?
Her: St. George.
Me: Cool.

Seriously, that was pretty much the conversation. Then I requested them as roommates. And despite the weird way that we became roommates, it's been the best! I'm kind of obsessed with all of them. I prayed them to me. And by some amazing, unexplainable blessing all of us are single, which always makes apartments more fun!

It's one of those semesters when I am almost always constantly in awe of how nice these girl are. Oh, that doesn't sound familiar? Not everybody gets roommates like that? I know, it is kind of a miracle. I'm the luckiest.

I could gush on for a while about these girls, but I'll refrain and just say getting sweet texts, coming home to having ALL the clean check jobs done, having cute notes on my bed, obliging me some nights when I want us to all hold hands when we pray, having a roommate that constantly says "I made __________ if you want to eat it!", having someone clean up the massive, disgusting mess from the chocolate fountain from the night before while I was at work, listening to me when I just want to ramble, sneaking creepy mannequin heads into my bed and just asking "How was work!?" when I come home everyday is amazingly nice.

So here's to another two months of greatness!

I've included some more fantastic pictures for you for your viewing pleasure.

Stephanie

Ruth or Ruthio as I call her

Kelli but I prefer Kelli Welli

Daylyn

Taryn 

Me in all my glory

Amberlee & the terrible horrible no good very bad day

Have you read that book?
It's cute.
Well January 10 has historically been my "bad day."  As a brief synopsis of previous January 10 events includes:
- Breaking up
- Breaking up: the same day exactly one year later
- A woman trying to hit me with her car on my mission & just a very very long day of tracting
- A very bad job interview
- Just being sad in general.

SO yesterday morning, I forgot it was January 10. This is how my day went from two different perspectives:

1. My alarm didn't wake up, so I was running twenty minutes behind getting to my job in Idaho Falls on time. I ran outside to my car and when I went to leave... it was stuck. There was no one in sight and most college students are still asleep at 7:30, so I decided to push it out on my own. Realizing this could potentially be a stupid idea, but seeing no other option, I put my car in drive while I went to the back to push it. After five minutes of shoving it came out!.... Very fast! I ran towards the open door, slipped, fell face first into a very icy puddle drenching me head to toe in muddy ice water and looked up to see my car slamming into the cement barrier that divides my parking lot from the Bunkhouse parking lot. 

Yike.  

I arrived to work five minutes late, wet and remembering that the heater has been broken and it's been freezing in our office.  

 Sometime on the drive over, I realized it was January 10. And I was suddenly filled with a huge desire to make this January 10 not a bad day, so I looked over what had just happened and I think this is a much better story:

 2. I got home from work the night before at 10 at night and there was a pull through parking spot. Even though I wanted to park on the closer side to my apartment I had a little thought that I should park in the pull through spot. So I did. The next morning, My alarm didn't wake me up, but I made my lunch the night before and I was able to get ready much faster than normal. 

When I decided to push it out my own car, I prayed that I would be able to - because my muscles are less than impressive. And I did! Cheers!

As I watched my car smash into the cement barrier, I realized there was probably enough snow to cushion it and sure enough, as I checked it out, dripping in water, it was okay. It also wasn't stuck at all in the snow bank so I could just leave. Had I not parked in the pull through spot, I would have been pushing my car out in the direction of other cars and it most likely would have smashed into another car. 

The forty minute commute allowed me to pull off my socks and shove them in the heater so that hopefully it would dry them off. Along with my office being much warmer than normal, my boss, Adam, was nice and was very understanding. It was also casual Friday, so the clothes I was wearing were okay getting dirty.

Isn't that nice? It totally ended up being an awesome opportunity to see that it could be better than otherwise. After work I was feeling sad and decided to stop by the Idaho Falls Temple Visitor Center. It was amazing. I have been wanting to go there since I got home from my mission, but this was just the perfect timing. It brought me so much peace and I talked to the missionaries for a long time and just thought about how much I have to be grateful for.

Moving

This is my room. It has also been my kind of sanctuary the past four months.

Today I am moving on campus. I won't be the "local" anymore. Although I'm really excited for the experience, I'm surprised at how sad and scared I am. It's been 3 and a half years since I lived on campus/lived with five other girls.

That was never the plan.

When I originally moved back home, it was only going to be for one semester, because my cousin wanted me to live with her and my parents. Then one semester turned into two when I decided to save money to go on a mission and that turned into another 18 months as I left on my mission, another 7 months after I took a job at Deseret News, another semester as I decided to save money because I was engaged and another semester - this past semester - as plans changed and I just really needed my mom and dad. 

I love this little corner room with it's many windows. It represents a lot of me: traveling, too many clothes because I can't get rid of anything, a lot of books because I accumulate them, empty picture frames that are still waiting to be filled after taking out Stephen's pictures, cute niece & family pictures, DIY projects that almost turned out cute but not quite...

I'm only moving about a mile away and I've lived much further away from home before, so I'm not sure what makes this move any different, except that when I moved back home I was a very different person than I am now that I'm moving out. 

 

Finals

This is a just a portion of what is consuming life right now. Finals. As swamped as I am with projects (the only reason I am blogging is because I am sitting in a bit boring presentation and have access to the Internet. Thanks iPod! ) I am not super anxious for it to end. Graduation in July is creeping closer and closer with a still great big question mark on "what am I going to do in my life?" But  in between wondering if I can get a job In my field and where on earth I am going to live, I am trying to focus on things like presenting at the creative works and research conference (picture above) fighting for my crumbling A in research class and in graphic design and saying goodbye to all of the wonderful people I have come to love in my ward this semester.

It has been both one of my hardest and one of my best semesters and I
will be sad to see it go.

So starts school blogging

School has started again, which means there is a great class I am taking entitled "Advanced Media writing." Part of this class involves writing daily prompts on our class blog, so I have decided to post them on here too. Something deep inside - the place that knows just how ridiculous I tend to be- tells me that these will probably be, well, ridiculous. But here is the first - The prompt will probably be less personal after this one, but this was just to tell the class something unique about us.

A Girl Named Amberlee

I think if I had to choose a nickname to best describe myself it might be: quirky-body girl. Maybe not the most flattering, but I think it fits well. Quirk number one happened my freshman year of college. I had my wisdom teeth taken out, and four days after, when my face was still numb, I started suspecting something was wrong. As it turns out there is a 1 in 10,000 chance that those with wisdom teeth removed will not get the sensation back if the nerve is nicked, so I guess I'm just 1 in 10,000 and now can't fill the left side of my lower lip and along the jaw.

Quirk number two probably happened while I was still in the womb although I can't be exactly sure. But, thanks to some great genetics, I have a really long tongue which means I can not only touch my nose with it, but touch my elbow with my tongue as well.

Quirk three and four are not too exciting. I can't bend three of my toes because I broke them playing night games. Individually actually. These were all seperate incidents, so night games is apparently bad luck for me. None of the toes ever healed right, so there they sit - stiff and weird looking.

And finally i'll stop at quirk five. I have an ridiculously good hitch hikers thumb. It's a perfect right angle backwards. Ask me sometime and I will show you. It will be so exciting I'm sure, probably the highlight of your life.

Other than those strange facts, I really like music. I played piano, violin and sang in high school which was great. I also like dancing mostly ballet and modern and I do a little bit of tap, but I'm not into the cane/top hat genre. My emphasis is journalism which I like more and more every year!

My family is from Rexburg which I love. We were really lucky to be able to travel as a family a lot when I was younger. I think my dad wanted to make sure we knew that the whole world doesn't frown on smoking or have a great obsession with cute vinal letter sayings. I am grateful he did because it made me appreciate Rexburg all the more while still wanting to experience other places. Some of the places we got to visit were: Finland, Michigan, Washington, Boston, Israel/egypt, Canada, New York, Rhode Island, California and any obscure place that played a part in western U.S. history. My dad was big into that so yes, I have driven four hours to get out look at the batlefield of an indian war and then hop back into my car and drive home. It's all part of the random road trip experience. I highly recommend it!